Sheboygan North reflects on banner year

Sheboygan North High School's Davis Larson following the team's loss to Stevens Point High School during their game in the WIAA State Championship Division 1 semifinals Friday, March 18, 2016 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. Stevens Pint defeated Sheboygan North 75 to 48.(Photo: Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

Sheboygan North’s first trip to state in 23 years didn’t end how the Golden Raiders hoped it would. They fell 75-48 to top-ranked Stevens Point, but through teary eyes, the players chose to reflect on season chock-full of success rather than their final defeat.

The Golden Raiders lost only two games in the regular season on the way to a Fox River Classic Conference championship and stormed through the regional and sectional stages on the way to state.

Davis Larson, the FRCC player of the year and North High’s all-time leading scorer said making it to state was most satisfying because of the people around him, rather than the status of making it to Madison.

“It means the world, not just for coach, but I was able to lead the team to state,” he said. “All of our goals were to get down to state, win conference, win regionals, win sectionals. Now we’re here. It means a lot that I was able to be co-captain of a team that went to state and played at the Kohl Center. I’m so blessed and thankful for the opportunity I’ve had to play for Coach Desotell. I wouldn’t be able to play college basketball without Coach Desotell. I wouldn’t have grown as much as I have without Coach Desotell. He’s kind of a family member. He’s a mentor. I wouldn’t be where I’m at without him.”

Desotell said he wasn’t as excited about the Kohl Center as some of his players but wanted to reflect on a truly remarkable season. All year long, they pushed the celebrations aside, choosing to instead focus on their next hurdle.

“I think 24 victories stand out,” he said. “With each win, we put it aside and put it aside. We’ve got more games coming up, we’d say. In regionals, we wanted to act like we’ve been there before and push on. In sectionals, let’s push up. We delay adulation and now, we want to celebrate. We played a better team tonight.”

While a trip to state is certainly a feather in North’s cap, Larson said the real prize was seeing how far they’ve come as a basketball team. Every player put in the work and improved by leaps and bounds leading into this season, and their final record serves as proof.

“I’m so proud of what we were able to accomplish this year,” he said. “With how much Sam has improved and how much someone like Julian Jones has improved. Guys have grown up. Last year, you probably didn’t see that much of them. Over the summer, through all the workouts and all the shooting we’ve done together, we grew as a team. It’s so hard to not be proud of what we’ve done. We haven’t been to state in 23 years. Coach was able to coach at the Kohl Center, which he hasn’t done yet. Later in life, we’ll look back on this and be proud of what we were able to do.”

For Kaminski, the loss still hurt, but with no more games left on the schedule, he’s excited to take some time and reflect on how far they’ve come.

“Obviously, we had a lot of success over the year that we didn’t want to celebrate until now,” he said. “There’s not much you can be sad about with how much we all improved and got better over the year.”